Concrete pouring form construction and form board fastener device



Aug. 23, 1955 E. F. KRAMER 2,715,760

CONCRETE POURING FORM CONSTRUCTION AND FORM BOARD FASTENER DEVICE Filed Oct. 15, 1952 IN V EN TOR.

4 T'TOQNEYS EDWARD F KRAMER mam United States Patent CONCRETE POURING FORM CONSTRUCTION AND FORM BOARD FASTENER DEVICE This invention relates to a new and improved concrete pouring form construction and to a form board fastener device.

The particular embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter described in more detail,

comprises, generally, a form board construction of the type including a vertical stud disposed ad acent the outer face of a conventional concrete form board or panel for supporting said board during concrete pouring operations. Said construction also includes one or more apertures formed through the form board adjacent the supporting stud and through which said apertures is pro ected a hook-shaped fastening element removably engageable with the inner face of the form board adjacent the aperture. The outwardly projecting end of the hook-shaped fastening element is adapted to be secured as by nailing directly to the supporting stud.

As will appear more fully hereinafter, a principal ob ect of the invention is to provide a concrete form construction of the type briefly mentioned above which is capable of being rapidly and efiiciently erected and torn down.

Another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement of the type referred to above which permits prefabrication of the form panels and other component elements of the construction at a factory site or like central location for subsequent transportation to and erection at a construction situs. More particularly, the construction is such that the principal component parts comprising the construction may be prefabricated in uniform and standard sizes so as to provide maximum interchangeability of parts and resultant flexibility in erection operations.

Another object and advantage of a construction embodying the invention is to provide means for securing the form boards to associated supporting studs or like primary supports in such manner as to minimize damage to the form boards in erection or tearing down of the construction. In this connection it is more or less conventional practice today to nail the form boards directly to the studs, and these nails must be pulled or hammered out at the time the construction is torn down or disassembled. Not infrequently the form boards and/or studs are split or otherwise seriously damaged by such practices, which, of course, results in waste of material. Moreover, situations are often encountered where it is both ditficult and time-consuming for carpenters to properly secure the form boards to the studs by nails.

Thus it is a further object of the invention to provide novel means comprising hook-shaped fasteners for removably securing form boards to their supporting studs which, in turn, entirely eliminates the laborious, timeconsuming, and wasteful more conventional practice of nailing the form boards directly to the studs.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification and referring to the accompanying drawings in which similar characters of reference represent corresponding parts in each of the several views.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the form board fastening device.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view partially in section showing a form board secured to a stud by means of the fastening device.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view partially in section showing a stud, form board, and fastening device in partially assembled relationship.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a concrete form construction embodying the invention.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of a preferred type of prefabricated form panel construction.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, a preferred embodiment of the form board fastener is shown in Fig. 1 as comprising an elongated U-shaped body, pref erably formed of spring wire, defining a web portion 10 and two oppositely disposed, substantially parallel, extending leg portions 11 and 12. Each leg portion is formed at its outer end with a reversely curved, laterally projecting, hook-shaped portion, such as indicated at 13 and 14, respectively. These hook-shaped elements project outwardly in opposite directions to opposite sides of the body of the device. The inherent springiness of the wire operates to maintain the legs and their associated hook-shaped portions in normally spread position, such as shown in Fig. 1. Moreover, the web 10 and oppositely disposed legs 11 and 12 define a nail receiving opening 15 for nailing the fastener to an associated stud, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

In the erection of concrete form constructions, it is customary practice to erect spaced supporting studs to the inner surfaces of which are nailed conventional plywood panels or boards, such as indicated generally at 20. Conventional constructions also usually include the use of she-bolts, such as indicated at 18, associated Wailers 19, and metal spreaders, such as indicated at 21. In view of the fact that these latter designated component elements do not in themselves constitute a part of the present invention and are well known in the art, further elaboration as to their specific structure and/ or function herein is considered unnecessary.

As previously mentioned, in form board constructions embodying the present invention, the more conventional practice of nailing the plywood panels to the supporting studs is eliminated. In the preferred practice of the invention, a plurality of relatively small fastener receiving holes, indicated generally at 22, are drilled or bored at spaced preselected intervals throughout the form panel. The boring or forming of the holes through the panels may be done at a factory site or other central location, where standard templates may be employed so as to make each panel substantially identical in construction and, therefore, interchangeable with any other panel which has been similarly drilled or bored. The number and spacing of apertures 22. may, of course, depend in large measure on individual desires, needs, or specifications for a particular job.

Referring particularly to Fig. 5, there is shown a conventional 4 x 8 plywood form panel 20:: through which have been bored a plurality of fastener receiving holes. In the preferred arrangement shown, one aperture is formed adjacent each corner of the panel, such as indicated at 220. These corner apertures are preferably spaced inwardly from an adjacent end edge of the panel about one inch and from an adjacent lengthwise top or bottom panel edge about three inches. I prefer to form apertures 22b intermediate each pair of corner apertures also spaced one inch from an adjacent end edge of the panel. It is thus observed that the two corner apertures 22a and the intermediate aperture 22b define a vertically aligned column or row of three apertures adjacent each end edge of the panel. Between these oppositely disposed end columns of apertures are bored top and bottom horizontal rows of similarly formed apertures, as indicated at 22c and 22d, respectively. The apertures in each row are preferably spaced from one another about twelve inches apart. and the apertures 22c of the top row are preferably laterally ofl'set two inches with respect to apertures 22d of the bottom row. I

Fig. 5 shows how an apertured panel of the type above described may be arranged with respect to conventional supporting 2" x 4" studs, shown in dotted lines, which said studs are shown as being spaced one foot apart from one another according to more or less customary practice in the art. In the arrangement shown end stud 23a overlaps by about one inch adjoining edges of adjacent panels 20a and 20!). This places opposite side edges of end stud 23a closely adjacent end apertures 22a and 22b of each said adjoining panel.

The intermediate studs 23b are relatively positioned with respect to their associated panel so that the left side of the upper end of each stud is disposed proximate an associated aperture 221: and the right side of the lower end of each stud is disposed proximate an associated aperture 22d.

When the form boards have been properly located in position relative to their supporting studs as aforesaid,

a hook-shaped fastener of the type shown in Fig. 1 and previously described, may be inserted through each of the apertures 22a, 22b, 22c, and 22d by manually squeezing the hooked ends 13 and 14 together, such as shown in Fig. 3. Thus, the fasteners may beinserted through the apertures from the outer side of the panel, or, of course, the fasteners can also be inserted web-portion first from the inside face of the panels, as desired. After the fastener has been projected through its associated aperture, the said fastener may be nailed directly to the side of its associated stud, such as illustrated in Fig. 2. In this connection it is seen that the hook-shaped ends 13 and 14 of the fastener, upon clearing its associated aperture 22, will spring apart rendering outward withdrawal of the fastener through the aperture impossible. In short, the hook-shaped ends of the fastener will engage the inner face of the panel, which, in turn, makes it possible to tightly draw'the panel into firm engagement with the stud upon toe-nailing the outer web portion of the fastener through nail opening 15 directly to the stud, as shown at 31 in Fig. 2.

After assembly of the panels to the studs-in the manner above explained, erection of the completed construction may be carried on according to conventional practices, which may involve, among other things, the use of conventional metal Spreaders, she-bolts, and associated Wailers. Such conventional practices are well known and understood in the art and further elaboration with respect thereto is considered unnecessary.

Use of fasteners of the type herein disclosed also makes it an extremely simple task to tear down form constructions after the concrete has been poured and allowed to set. The fastener securing nails 31 may be readily pulled or hammered out of engagement with the fasteners thereby freeing the panels from the studs. The fasteners may readily be removed from their associated panel apertures 22 merely by sliding said fasteners out of engagement within said apertures.

Although the present invention has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it is understood that certain changes and modifications may be made within the spirit of the invention as limited only by the scope of the claim appended hereto.

I claim:

A concrete pouring form construction including a form board and a vertical stud disposed adjacent the outer face of said form board for supporting said board comprising: a circular opening formed through said form board adjacent said stud; means projected through said opening removably securing said form board to said stud; said means comprising an elongate U-shaped body formed of spring metal defining a web portion having a length less than the diameter of said opening and oppositely disposed projecting parallel legs of equal length; a hook-shaped element provided on the outer end of each said leg; said hook-shaped elements projecting laterally outwardly to opposite sides of said U-shaped body; the inherent springiness of said spring metal normally maintaining said legs and associated hook-shaped elements in spread position with said hook-shaped elements engaging the inside face of said form board adjacent said circular opening; said hook-shaped elements arranged for manual closing together against the spring force of said spring metal; the transverse dimension of the hook-shaped elements in closed position being slightly less than the diameter of the circular opening formed through said form board whereby said U-shaped fastener can be projected through or withdrawn from said opening either end first in a straight line path of movement axially of said circular opening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,093,326 Legat Sept. 14, 1937 2,317,907 Gent Apr. 27, 1943 2,472,756 Nelsson June 7, 1949 2,474,587 Moore June 28, 1949 2,562,754 Van Uum et a1 July 31, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 913,929 France June 11, 1946 

